Occupied by the UK in 1841, Hong Kong was formally ceded by China the following year; various adjacent lands were added later in the 19th century. Pursuant to an agreement signed by China and the UK on 19 December 1984, Hong Kong became the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China on 1 July 1997. In this agreement, China has promised that, under its "one country, two systems" formula, China's socialist economic system will not be imposed on Hong Kong and that Hong Kong will enjoy a high degree of autonomy in all matters except foreign and defense affairs for the next 50 years.

Eastern Asia, bordering the South China Sea and China
22 15 N, 114 10 E
Southeast Asia
total: 1,092 sq km ; land: 1,042 sq km ; water: 50 sq km
six times the size of Washington, DC
total: 30 km ; regional border: China 30 km
733 km
territorial sea: 3 nm
subtropical monsoon; cool and humid in winter, hot and rainy from spring through summer, warm and sunny in fall
hilly to mountainous with steep slopes; lowlands in north
lowest point: South China Sea 0 m ; highest point: Tai Mo Shan 958 m
outstanding deepwater harbor, feldspar
arable land: 5.05% ; permanent crops: 1.01% ; other: 93.94% (2001)
20 sq km (1998 est.)


occasional typhoons
air and water pollution from rapid urbanization
party to: Marine Dumping (associate member), Ship Pollution (associate member)
more than 200 islands
6,980,412 (July 2007 est.)
0-14 years: 13% (male 476,089/female 434,326) ; 15-64 years: 74% (male 2,515,518/female 2,652,660) ; 65 years and over: 12.9% (male 419,479/female 482,340) (2007 est.)
total: 41.2 years ; male: 40.9 years ; female: 41.4 years (2007 est.)
0.561% (2007 est.)
7.34 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
6.45 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
4.72 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
at birth: 1.08 male(s)/female ; under 15 years: 1.096 male(s)/female ; 15-64 years: 0.948 male(s)/female ; 65 years and over: 0.87 male(s)/female ; total population: 0.956 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
total: 2.94 deaths/1,000 live births ; male: 3.12 deaths/1,000 live births ; female: 2.74 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)
total population: 81.68 years ; male: 78.99 years ; female: 84.6 years (2007 est.)
0.98 children born/woman (2007 est.)
0.1% (2003 est.)
2,600 (2003 est.)
less than 200 (2003 est.)
noun: Chinese/Hong Konger ; adjective: Chinese/Hong Kong
Chinese 94.9%, Filipino 2.1%, other 3% (2001 census)
eclectic mixture of local religions 90%, Christian 10%
Chinese (Cantonese) 89.2% (official), other Chinese dialects 6.4%, English 3.2% (official), other 1.2% (2001 census)
definition: age 15 and over has ever attended school ; total population: 93.5% ; male: 96.9% ; female: 89.6% (2002)


conventional long form: Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ; conventional short form: Hong Kong ; local long form: Xianggang Tebie Xingzhengqu ; local short form: Xianggang ; abbreviation: HK
limited democracy

none (special administrative region of China)

none (special administrative region of China)
National Day (Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China), 1 October (1949); note - 1 July 1997 is celebrated as Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day
Basic Law, approved in March 1990 by China's National People's Congress, is Hong Kong's "mini-constitution"
based on English common law
direct election 18 years of age; universal for permanent residents living in the territory of Hong Kong for the past seven years; indirect election limited to about 200,000 members of functional constituencies and an 800-member election committee drawn from broad regional groupings, municipal organizations, and central government bodies
chief of state: President of China HU Jintao (since 15 March 2003) ; head of government: Chief Executive Donald TSANG (since 24 June 2005) ; cabinet: Executive Council consists of 14 official members and 15 non-official members ; elections: chief executive elected for five-year term by 800-member electoral committee; last held on 25 March 2007 (next to be held in 2012) ; election results: Donald TSANG elected chief executive receiving 84.1% of the vote; Alan LEONG received 15.9%
unicameral Legislative Council or LEGCO (60 seats; in 2004 30 seats indirectly elected by functional constituencies, 30 elected by popular vote; members serve four-year terms) ; elections: last held 12 September 2004 (next to be held in September 2008) ; election results: percent of vote by party - pro-democracy 63%, pro-Beijing 37%; seats by party - (pro-Beijing 34) DAB 12, Liberal Party 10, FTU 1, independents 11; (pro-democracy 25) Democratic Party 9, CTU 2, ADPL 1, Frontier Party 1, NWSC 1, independents 11; non-voting LEGCO president 1
Court of Final Appeal in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood or ADPL [Frederick FUNG Kin-kee]; Citizens Party [Alex CHAN Kai-chung]; Civic Party [KUAN Hsin-chi]; Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong or DAB [TAM Yiu Cheng]; Democratic Party [Albert HO]; Frontier Party [Emily LAU Wai-hing]; Liberal Party [James TIEN Pei-chun] ; note: political blocs include: pro-democracy - ADPL, Democratic Party, Frontier Party; pro-Beijing - DAB, Liberal Party
Chinese General Chamber of Commerce (pro-China); Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong; Confederation of Trade Unions or CTU (pro-democracy) [LAU Chin-shek, president; LEE Cheuk-yan, general secretary]; Federation of Hong Kong Industries; Federation of Trade Unions or FTU (pro-China) [CHENG Yiu-tong, executive councilor]; Hong Kong Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China [Szeto WAH, chairman]; Hong Kong and Kowloon Trade Union Council (pro-Taiwan); Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce; Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union [CHEUNG Man-kwong, president]; Neighborhood and Workers' Service Center or NWSC (pro-democracy); The Alliance [Bernard CHARNWUT, exco member]
APEC, AsDB, BIS, ICC, IHO, IMF, IMO (associate), IOC, ISO (correspondent), ITUC, UNWTO (associate), UPU, WCL, WCO, WMO, WTO
red with a stylized, white, five-petal bauhinia flower in the center
none (special administrative region of China)
chief of mission: Consul General James B. CUNNINGHAM ; consulate(s) general: 26 Garden Road, Hong Kong ; mailing address: PSC 461, Box 1, FPO AP 96521-0006 ; telephone: [852] 2523-9011 ; FAX: [852] 2845-1598
special administrative region of China




Hong Kong has a free market economy highly dependent on international trade. In 2006, the total value of goods and services trade, including the sizable share of reexports, was equivalent to 400% of GDP. The territory has become increasingly integrated with mainland China over the past few years through trade, tourism, and financial links. The mainland has long been Hong Kong's largest trading partner, accounting for 46% of Hong Kong's total trade by value in 2006. As a result of China's easing of travel restrictions, the number of mainland tourists to the territory has surged from 4.5 million in 2001 to 13.6 million in 2006, when they outnumbered visitors from all other countries combined. Hong Kong has also established itself as the premier stock market for Chinese firms seeking to list abroad. Bolstered by several successful initial public offerings in 2007, mainland companies by September 2007 accounted for one-third of the firms listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and over half of the Exchange's market capitalization. Hong Kong's service industry over the past decade has grown rapidly as its manufacturing industry has moved to the mainland and now accounts for 91% of the territory's GDP. Hong Kong's natural resources are limited, and food and raw materials must be imported. Per capita GDP exceeds that of the four big economies of Western Europe. GDP growth averaged a strong 5% from 1989 to 2007, despite the economy suffering two recessions during the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98 and the global downturn in 2001-02. Hong Kong continues to link its currency closely to the US dollar, maintaining an arrangement established in 1983.
$293.4 billion (2007 est.)
$204.5 billion (2007 est.)
5.8% (2007 est.)
$42,000 (2007 est.)
agriculture: 0.1% ; industry: 8.1% ; services: 91.8% (2007 est.)
3.65 million (2007 est.)
manufacturing 7.5%, construction 2.9%, wholesale and retail trade, restaurants, and hotels 43.9%, financing, insurance, and real estate 19.6%, transport and communications 7.1%, community and social services 18.8% ; note: above data exclude public sector (2005 est.)
4% (2007 est.)
NA%
lowest 10%: NA% ; highest 10%: NA%
52.3 (2001)
2% (2007 est.)
22.2% of GDP (2007 est.)
revenues: $38.58 billion ; expenditures: $34.83 billion (2007 est.)
12.8% of GDP (2007 est.)
fresh vegetables; poultry, pork; fish
textiles, clothing, tourism, banking, shipping, electronics, plastics, toys, watches, clocks
-0.9% (2007 est.)
36.14 billion kWh (2005)
fossil fuel: 100% ; hydro: 0% ; nuclear: 0% ; other: 0% (2001)
37.74 billion kWh (2005)
4.498 billion kWh (2005)
11 billion kWh (2005)
0 bbl/day (2005 est.)
293,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)
26,090 bbl/day (2004)
344,200 bbl/day (2004)
0 bbl (1 January 2006 est.)
0 cu m (2005 est.)
2.944 billion cu m (2005 est.)
0 cu m (2005 est.)
2.944 billion cu m (2005)
0 cu m (1 January 2006 est.)
$19.87 billion (2007 est.)
$353.3 billion f.o.b., including reexports (2007 est.)
electrical machinery and appliances, textiles, apparel, footwear, watches and clocks, toys, plastics, precious stones, printed material
China 47%, US 15.1%, Japan 4.9% (2006)
$371.3 billion (2007 est.)
China 45.9%, Japan 10.3%, Taiwan 7.5%, Singapore 6.3%, US 4.8%, South Korea 4.6% (2006)

$141.3 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
$549.7 billion (30 June 2007)
$769.1 billion (2006 est.)
$689 billion (2006 est.)
$1.006 trillion (2005)
Hong Kong dollar (HKD)
HKD
Hong Kong dollars per US dollar - 7.79 (2007), 7.7678 (2006), 7.7773 (2005), 7.788 (2004), 7.7868 (2003)
1 April - 31 March
$6.95 million (2004)
3.85 million (2006)
9.356 million (2006)
general assessment: modern facilities provide excellent domestic and international services ; domestic: microwave radio relay links and extensive fiber-optic network ; international: country code - 852; multiple international submarine cables provide connections to Asia, US, Australia, the Middle East, and Western Europe; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (1 Pacific Ocean and 2 Indian Ocean); coaxial cable to Guangzhou, China
AM 5, FM 9, shortwave 0 (2004)
4.45 million (1997)
55 (2 TV networks, each broadcasting on 2 channels) (2006)
1.84 million (1997)
.hk
812,137 (2007)
17 (2000)
3.77 million (2006)

2 (2007)
total: 2 ; over 3,047 m: 1 ; 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2007)

5 (2007)


total: 1,955 km ; paved: 1,955 km (2005)

total: 1,009 ships (1000 GRT or over) 34,556,075 GRT/57,423,309 DWT ; by type: barge carrier 2, bulk carrier 499, cargo 135, chemical tanker 51, combination ore/oil 3, container 173, liquefied gas 24, passenger 6, passenger/cargo 5, petroleum tanker 91, roll on/roll off 4, specialized tanker 8, vehicle carrier 8 ; foreign-owned: 617 (Belgium 4, Canada 39, China 309, Denmark 12, France 1, Germany 10, Greece 30, Indonesia 7, Japan 78, South Korea 6, Lebanon 1, Norway 30, Pakistan 1, Philippines 10, Portugal 1, Singapore 11, Syria 1, Taiwan 11, UAE 1, UK 32, US 22) ; registered in other countries: 275 (Bahamas 3, Belize 5, Bermuda 4, Cambodia 11, China 6, Cyprus 2, Honduras 1, India 1, Liberia 21, Malaysia 14, Malta 1, Marshall Islands 4, Mongolia 1, Norway 5, Panama 137, Philippines 2, Seychelles 1, Singapore 37, St Vincent and The Grenadines 7, Tuvalu 10, UK 2, unknown 7) (2007)
Hong Kong

no regular indigenous military forces; Hong Kong garrison of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) includes elements of Ground Forces, Navy, and Air Force; these forces are under the direct leadership of the Central Military Commission in Beijing and under administrative control of the adjacent Guangzhou Military Region
18 years of age (2004)
males age 18-49: 1,743,972 ; females age 18-49: 1,904,967 (2005 est.)
males age 18-49: 1,403,088 ; females age 18-49: 1,527,278 (2005 est.)
males age 18-49: 40,343 ; females age 18-49: 38,234 (2005 est.)
NA
defense is the responsibility of China
none

despite strenuous law enforcement efforts, faces difficult challenges in controlling transit of heroin and methamphetamine to regional and world markets; modern banking system provides conduit for money laundering; rising indigenous use of synthetic drugs, especially among young people

